Photos by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech guard Dorenzo Hudson rushes the ball down the floor Tuesday night.

Virginia Tech teammates Jeff Allen (0) and J.T. Thompson (33) compete for a rebound in front of Ben Stywall (left) and Brain Cole of UNC Greensboro in the second half.

BLACKSBURG -- It's a good thing the Virginia Tech men's basketball team hasn't played a heavyweight yet. Because the Hokies are having enough problems with lightweights right now.

Two days after struggling to put away Ivy League foe Brown, the Hokies had trouble with UNC Greensboro before pulling away for a 59-46 win Tuesday night at Cassell Coliseum.

The Spartans, a Southern Conference team that won just five games last season, opened with a 34-point loss at Duke on Friday.

But the Hokies (2-0) and Spartans were tied at 38 with 10:48 to go.

Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney took over at that point, combining for all the scoring in an 11-0 run that gave Tech a 49-38 cushion with 6:37 left.

UNCG (0-2) didn't end its drought until there was 5:12 to go and mustered just eight points in the final 10:48.

"We knew we had to pick it up. ...The early morning workouts [on defensive] stances and stuff like that started to kick in," said Allen, who had 14 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. "You could see the difference in our defense at the end."

Allen said Tech fans should not be concerned that the Hokies had a hard time pulling away from UNCG.

"We just had a bad shooting night," Allen said. "We're going to work on that."

The Hokies opened with a 69-55 win over Brown, which finished last season ranked No. 309 out of 343 Division I teams in the NCAA's Rating Percentage Index. UNCG finished No. 316 in the RPI.

Delaney isn't fretting over his team's early performances -- even though a tougher test looms next week against Temple.

"Look around the country. Everybody's not blowing teams out," said Delaney, who had 17 points. "We get the win, that's all that matters.

"We should be winning by a lot more, but we hit free throws and make at least 25 percent of the 3s we took, then it would be a totally different game.

But we played good on 'D,' and that's where we're trying to set the goal for our year, shutting teams down."

Tech ranked just eighth in the ACC in scoring defense last year.

Next up is a string of four straight games away from Cassell, beginning with a visit Monday to Campbell, which finished No. 257 in the RPI.

Next Friday, the Hokies face Temple at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Temple, which threw a big scare into Georgetown before losing Tuesday, is the only nonleague team on Tech's schedule that made the 2009 NCAA tournament. Temple and Penn State are the only nonleague foes that did not finish with an RPI in the triple digits.

Delaney likely suffered a sprained left ankle in the first half when he came down on another player's foot. He only missed about two minutes but had a tough time the rest of the game.

"It's going to kill me tonight," he said.

He was just 6-of-16 from the field.

"My shot was kind of off," he said.

The teams were tied at 26 at halftime. The Hokies shot 32.4 percent from the field in the first half, when they were 0-of-10 from 3-point range.

The Hokies no longer boast A.D. Vassallo, who finished his college career last season as the best 3-point shooter in their history.

"We're going to shoot the ball OK," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.

The Hokies shot 44.4 percent from the field in the second half, when they were 1-of-3 from 3-point range.

"Our 3s weren't falling today, so we worked the inside out," Allen said. "We had open shots, but we just couldn't hit them."

Tech was just 10-of-18 from the free-throw line.

"We missed a lot of free throws," Delaney said. "We shoot 100 a day. ... We've got to shoot more [free throws] over here instead of at the [new] practice facility 'cause it's too different."

UNCG shot 29.2 percent from the field in the second half. Guard Mikko Kovisto had 10 points in the first half, but Dorenzo Hudson held him scoreless in the second half.

The Spartans committed 23 turnovers. Tech had 10 steals.

UNC GREENSBORO (0-2)

Sellers 0-0 1-2 1, Stywall 3-9 0-0 6, Brown 0-5 3-4 3, Koivisto 4-6 0-0 10, Randall 5-11 0-0 10, VanDussen 1-4 0-0 2, Toney 2-4 0-0 5, Evans 2-8 3-5 7, Cole 1-4 0-0 2, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 7-11 46.

VIRGINIA TECH (2-0)

Allen 7-13 0-0 14, Bell 2-8 2-3 6, Davila 4-7 0-1 8, Hudson 3-7 0-4 6, Delaney 6-16 4-4 17, Green 0-3 0-0 0, Witcher 0-0 0-0 0, Boggs 1-4 0-0 2, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0, Debnam 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 1-4 4-6 6, Swindle 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-64 10-18 59.

Halftime--Tied 26-26. 3-Point Goals--UNC Greensboro 3-10 (Koivisto 2-4, Toney 1-3, Randall 0-1, Stywall 0-1, Evans 0-1), Virginia Tech 1-13 (Delaney 1-5, Hudson 0-1, Green 0-1, Allen 0-1, Boggs 0-2, Bell 0-3). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--UNC Greensboro 38 (Stywall 8), Virginia Tech 37 (Allen 10). Assists--UNC Greensboro 7 (Randall, Toney 2), Virginia Tech 9 (Delaney 5). Total Fouls--UNC Greensboro 20, Virginia Tech 12. A--9,693.